NASCAR made the trip to East Tennessee for their second points paying short track race of the season. Ryan Blaney led the field to green with Tyler Reddick getting the other front row spot. Blaney kept the lead off the restart as Reddick was shuffled back to fifth position. Ross Chastain also made a three-wide move on the outside to take second position as everyone would jockey to get to the bottom line as fast as possible.
Blaney made his way to the tail of the field and began lapping cars by lap 25. Kyle Larson made short work of Ross Chastain and made his way to second place. He then set his sights on the leader Blaney. He was able to use the lapped car of Shane Van Gisbergen to gain an advantage on Blaney and get the lead. He was able to hold Blaney off in traffic until contact from Ricky Stenhouse spun Brad Keselowski to bring out the first caution of the day on lap 62.
Chase Elliott and Josh Berry stayed out to gain track position while the rest of the lead lap cars went to the pits. Kyle Larson made a similar move to Chastain’s to retake the lead on the lap 70 restart. Berry was able to retain second and Elliott settled in fifth as things got back rolling. Elliott faded outside the top-10 by the end of the stage, but Berry was able to hold on and score stage points as Kyle Larson won the first stage.
Stage One Results:
- Kyle Larson
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Josh Berry
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- Carson Hocevar
- Riley Herbst
- Bubba Wallace
- Austin Cindric
The stage break brought about the second round of pit stops on the day. Larson was able to edge Cristopher Bell off pit road to maintain the race lead. Unfortunately, Bell got nabbed for speeding and had to go the rear. Larson was able to hold off Denny Hamlin to maintain the lead of the race as the second stage began. The stint was short lived as Bell’s day went from bad to worse as he spun after contact with the wall.
The race restarted on lap 151 and Larson was easily able to retain the lead over Berry. Briscoe was able to to snag second from Berry as well. Caution quickly flew again on lap 160 as Van Gisbergen spun out mid corner and collected John hunter Nemechek, Alex Bowman, and Todd Gilliland. The race restarted again on lap 169, this restart played out identically to the restart prior as Larson and Briscoe held serve after passing Berry who restarted front row on the inside.
Blaney charged his way back to second in short order, recovering the spots that he had lost on the stage break pit cycle in just 54 laps. Blaney continued to chip into Larson’s lead as the race quickly burned through stage two and the leader cut through lapped traffic. Blaney was able to get the lead trimmed down to three tenths, but he was unable to get around Larson as he swept the stages.
Stage Two Results:
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Blaney
- Denny Hamlin
- Carson Hocevar
- Chase Briscoe
- Josh Berry
- Ty Gibbs
- Joey Logano
- Bubba Wallace
- Austin Cindric
During stage break pit stops Hamlin was able to keep Larson honest, but Larson was able to maintain his lead off pit road while Blaney lost yet another five spots thanks to the struggles of his pit crew. Larson was able to maintain the lead to start the final stage. Blaney was able to quickly get back into the top-five as he made yet another charge through the field. Very quickly working his way back up to second. Ty Gibbs was on his tailgate in third after almost going a lap down at one point earlier in the race.
Caution flew on lap 313 as Kyle Busch spun off of turn four and collected Erik Jones, Michael McDowell, and Christopher Bell. Larson won the race off pit road as Blaney lost another two spots. Ricky Stenhouse restarted at the the rear after an equipment interference violation. Larson maintained his lead on the restart and Blaney was able to rip his way back up to second in an effort to stick with Larson.
Blaney used the bumper to get past Larson to take his first lead of the day since stage one on lap 338. Blaney very quickly amassed a two second advantage over Larson as the race worked its way into the late stages. Caution flew again for the the seventh time in the race on lap 382 after Zilisch hit the wall and spun off of turn two. Blaney was able to maintain his lead off pit road during the pit cycle and led the field back to green on lap 391.
Blaney was able to lead off the restart and pull out quickly to a second advantage over Larson. Gibbs got past Larson for second place as they crossed 56 laps to go. Blaney continued to pace the field, but Ty Gibbs was able to cut the two second interval down to one after Blaney almost wrecked in turn one. The leaders continued to work through lapped traffic as Gibbs tried to reel in Blaney.
The eighth caution of the day would reset the field with just 23 laps to go as Chase Elliott would spin out on his own. Blaney and Larson pitted while Gibbs stayed out on old tires. Gibbs would be joined by Hocevar, Hamlin, Briscoe, and Reddick. Gibbs led off the restart with 15 laps to go. Larson and Blaney made their way to third and fourth quickly. Working past Reddick and closing in on Gibbs, Larson got into Blaney and then the wall. Kyle Busch hooked Riley Herbst setting up our first attempt at overtime. Gibbs led off the inside with Blaney to his inside. Ty Gibbs was able to just hold off a charging Ryan Blaney to win his first ever NASCAR Cup Series race.
Top-10 Results:
- Ty Gibbs
- Ryan Blaney
- Kyle Larson
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Briscoe
- Todd Gilliland
- Joey Logano
- Ryan Preece
- Denny Hamlin
- Carson Hocevar
Main Photo Credit: @JoeGibbsRacing on Twitter
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